Boston Red Sox first baseman Bobby Dalbec will one day look back on this stretch and be very, very glad it’s over.
Unfortunately, after going hitless in another four at bats, that day was not Thursday and it did not come in Boston’s 12-9 series-clinching win over the Detroit Tigers.
Dalbec, who entered Thursday’s tilt with a 1.84 batting average, now has just one hit in his last 34 at bats over the past 10 games. He has one home run with six RBIs and three runs scored this season.
Still, manager Alex Cora expressed how the Red Sox will continue to stick with the 25-year-old.
“The last swing he took wasn’t that bad so you just have to keep working with him,” Cora said during a postgame video conference. “At this level, like I said, it’s not easy. I know he was very successful last year, but we know there’s still work to do.
“Honestly, those conversations, we always talk about our players and what’s best for them and right now he’s been playing a lot of first base, he’s been playing a lot and we’re going to keep helping him out to get out of this,” Cora continued. “Obviously, people see the slump and they start thinking about the minor leagues, but right now we just keep giving confidence, give him at bats and see where it takes us.”
Cora did note how Boston’s success as a team — the Red Sox are 19-13 and have lost just one series since their season-opening series against the Baltimore Orioles — makes that decision a bit easier.
“The good thing is that we are where we are as a team, with our record, and he knows that. So he just needs to keep working and we’ll keep helping him out,” Cora said. “It’s not easy to hit at this level and right now he’s in one of those stretches that he’s really struggling.”
That patient approach may have worked for outfielder Franchy Cordero.
Cordero, similarly, was a woeful 1-for-36 in his previous 14 games heading into Thursday. He followed that up with just his second multi-hit performance of the season and first in more than a month. Cordero was 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs and one RBI in the win, and now gets to breathe a sigh of relief as he looks to put that slump behind him.
Hopefully for both Dalbec and the Red Sox, he’ll be next.
